Legislators
unveil recommendations to make
universities more accountable to citizens
and to remedy funding
inequities

By Jane R.
Elgass

Three members of the Legislature were on campus last
Wednesday to
unveil a report that calls for fairer funding for the state's
15
public universities and affordable higher education for all
Michigan
residents.

The report's recommendations are based on
testimony by university
officials, students, parents and business
representatives at a series
of statewide public hearings.

Rep.
Beverly Hammerstrom, R-Temperance, noted that the report
"sets the stage
for improving our universities. An enhanced
partnership between the
Legislature and our public universities will
yield more educational
opportunities and create less of a financial
burden for students and their
families."

Hammerstrom, who is chair of the House Republican
Policy
Committee, was joined at the media briefing by Reps. John
Llewellyn,
R-Fremont, and Jim McBryde, R-Mt. Pleasant, co-chairs of the
House
Republican Task Force on Higher Education, which drafted
the
report.

Noting that the report was in the works for three
years, McBryde
said it was difficult to write "because of the state's
unique
autonomous system of [university] boards."

That
autonomy should continue, McBryde said, because the
advantages outweigh
the disadvantages. He added, however, that some
middle ground must be
reached in which the universities are more
accountable to the Legislature
and citizenry.

He and Llewellyn hope to "continue the dialogue"
begun by the
report with the boards of the state's public universities
"to
increase the level of accountability."

Llewellyn noted that a
major issue to address in those discussions
will be equity in funding of
the public universities, brought into
the limelight last year when Gov.
John Engler recommended that
Michigan State, Western Michigan and Grand
Valley State universities
receive greater appropriations increases than
the U-M.

Llewellyn explained that the current funding approach was
created
when the state was developing a statewide system of higher
education
institutions in the 1950s and 1960s. "The funding was
institutionally
specific," he said. "We now need to move from
institution-based
[funding] to individual student-based funding,
to support
Michigan residents who attend Michigan institutions," adding
that
this would be "a more efficient way to spend taxpayer
dollars."

McBryde said that while "there is no justification for
the huge
inequities [in public university funding], the
research
universities ought to receive more state aid."

He
envisions a three-tiered approach: one level of funding for the
state's
three research universities, another for its two doctoral
institutions and
a third for the 10 undergraduate schools.

Llewellyn noted that the
U-M does differ from the other 14 schools
because of a different role and
mission that gives it "a broader,
even international, clientele," and that
it "perhaps has a greater
impact on technological and cultural changes
across the world,"
adding that the University "must make its case
clear."

While the task force report does not address the issue of
in-state
and out-ofstate students, Llewellyn and McBryde touched briefly
on
the topic.

Llewellyn said the University should have the
autonomy to operate
the way it wants to, adding that "funding of Michigan
residents to
attend Michigan universities," rather than funding the
institutions,
"would alleviate that discussion."

That approach, he
explained "may eliminate the ability of people
to criticize . . . `My kid
is unable to attend because of too many
out-of-state
students.'"

McBryde said that "University officials should have
begun a
dialogue [with the Legislature] as soon as it was
apparent"
it couldn't meet the 70 percent residents/30 percent
non-residents
goal last year.

This is among the issues of
accountability, he noted. "I represent
two counties in mid-Michigan. A
number of students would like to go
to the U-M, but say they can't get in
because of the out-of-state
students. We need dialogue up front on this
issue."

Another issue "we continually heard about," McBryde said,
was
"professors in the classroom. We want to urge the
research
universities not to give in to the temptation to chase
research
dollars in Washington, but to keep the star professors, the best
and
brightest in the field, in undergraduate classes."

The three
legislators indicated that their report will not result
in any specific
legislation. Rather the hope is that the universities
will work on the
recommendations.

They noted that the report has been sent to
members of the boards
of all the public universities and that they hope
the board members
"will read it and take it seriously."

Task force recommendations

The report of the
House Republican Task Force on Higher Education
contains 10
recommendations. It urges universities to:

Work
with the Legislature to develop a system of funding that is
equitable to
all public universities.

Hold the line or make only
modest tuition increases, and keep
other costs down, including room and
board.

Lowering high attrition rates through
university strategies
incorporating programs that bring students into the
college setting
at an earlier stage.

Cynthia Wilbanks, associate
vice president for government
relations, said that the University "is
pleased to see the task force
recognize the unique qualities of the
University of Michigan."

"Furthermore, many of the recommendations
are ones our campuses
have already taken seriously, with specific programs
to enhance
undergraduate teaching and learning, a vast improvement in
our
information technology capabilities for students, faculty and
staff;
and studying the feasibility of privitization of
services.

"We welcome the opportunity to work with the members of
the
Legislature to further their goals and ours."

"These proposals
outline improvements to fortify the state's
higher education system," said
Jim McBryde, co-chair of the task
force and vice chair of the House
Appropriations Higher Education
Subcommittee.

"Providing
educational opportunities for residents goes a long way
in bolstering the
economy and empowering people. With these changes,
our public universities
can continue to serve us admirably as
Michigan moves boldly toward the
21st century."